Seed-cleaner and corn-grader.



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SEED CLEANER AND CORN GRADER. APPLICATION FILED AUG.6, 1913. 1,091,275.

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SEED CLEANER AND CORN GRADER.

APPLIOATION FILED mane, 191s.

Patented Mar. 24, 19m

-J. C. BENSON. SEED CLEANER AND CORN GRADER. APPLIOATION FILED we. 6, 191a.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

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JAMES C. BENSON, F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

SEED-CLEANER AND CORN-GRADER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 24, 1914.

Application filed August 6, 1913. Serial No. 783,375.

To all whom it may concern v Be it known that I, JAMES, C. BENSON, at present residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented a new andlmproved Seed- Cleaner and Corn-Grader, of which the following i a specification.

My present invention, which relates generally to improvements in grain separating and cleaning machines, primarily has for its object to provide an improved machine of the general character noted in which the several parts are cooperatively combined and so designed whereby they can be conveniently made and assembled and adapted for effectively serving their intended purposes.

With other objects in View that will hereinafter appear, my present invention embodies the peculiar features of construction and novel arrangementof parts, all of which will be hereinafter fully explained, and specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View of my improved machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section thereof. Fig. 3 is a detail perspective view of the hopper gate adjusting means. Fig. 4 is a transverse section of the machine taken on the line 4: on Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a detailsection of one of the adjustable yoke bearings for the driving shaft. Fig. 6 is a detail view of a part of the discharging end of the lowermost screen and shoe. Fig. 7 is a detail perspective of the fan casing.

In the practical arrangement, the supporting frame comprises a pair of front and a pair of rear end legs 1l and 22 joined by the base members 33 and the horizontal or cross bars 4-4.

5 designates the hopper which is supported between the upper ends of the front and rear pairs of legs bolted to the sides of the hopper, and the said hopper is further supported between the upper ends of a pair of uprights 6 that rise from the cross bars M, as shown. In my present machine, the hopper 5 is fixedly held and one portion of its bottom is in the nature of a slidable gate 7, the edges of which ride in. grooves 88 in the hopper sides, as is best shown in Fig. 4.

For conveniently adjusting the slidable bottom or gate 7 and for positively holding it to its shifted positions without the use of with the cross rod 8,

7 to move to the open or special clamping or locking devices, I utilize the means'best shown in Fig. 3, by reference in upwardly projected crank portions 80,

the members 81 of which are rockably mounted in the opposite sides of the hopper frame and are held thereon by nuts 82. Rod 8* is also bent up to form a downwardly projected crank handle 83.

9- 9 are link bars, the inner ends of which are pivotally joined to bifurcated brackets 10 on the underside of the gate 7, and the outer ends thereof are pivotally connected as shown.

By reason of the peculiar construction of the gate shifting devices, as described and shown, by manipulating the hand crank 83 of the rod 8, the links 9-9 cause the gate closed positions, according to the way the crank member 83 is turned, and to be held to the adjusted positions, since through the manipulations of the said crank members 83 the links9 become, as it were, spring levers, as is explained as follows: The link bars 9 are pivotally connected at their lower ends to the gate 7, their upper ends being connected to the member 8" of the double crank rod, and

by reason thereof, when the crank member 83 is turned upwardly the links 9-9 become spring levers, and hold the gate to its shifted position. When the crank member 83 is turned forwardly it releases the spring levers or bars 9 and closes thegate 7. The crank member '83 operates as an adjustable fulcrum for the bars 9-9.

The upper shoe 11, in which is mounted the first or coarse meshscreen 14;, is loosely supported at its upper end on the stud rollers 12'12 that are secured upon and extend inwardly from the upper ends of the legs 11. The lower end of the shoe 11 is adjustably supported on the oscillating arms 1313, the upper ends of which are connected with brackets 15 on the sides of the shoe and the lower ends pivotally mounted on the brackets 16 mounted on the sides of the second or intermediate shoe 17, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1. By reference to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the oscillating arms 13 are fulcrumed midway their length on the bracket arms 18 which extend inwardly from the upper end of the legs 2.

The upper or chaff shoe 11, in my present machine, extends substantially the full length of the machine and it is sufficiently inclined. to allow the chaff and like material to roll off into a receiver 19 in the nature of an inclined trough, that extends transversely of the front end of the machine and empties to one side thereof for discharging the said chaff etc. onto the floor. The grain or seed passes from the top screen onto the second screen 20 carried by the second or intermediate shoe 1'? supported at the upper ends by the oscillating arms or hangers 13. At a suitable distance in advance of the said hangers 13 the said shoe 1'? is supported on the upper or crank ends 21 of a pair of horizontally disposed rocker arms 22, one at each side of the machine, the front ends of which each have an elongated slot 23 that receives the wrist or crank pin 2% on the sprocket drive gear 25 on the fan carrying shaft 26, it being understood that as the sprocket is rotated, in the manner presently explained, oscillatory motion is imparted to the arm 22 and a longitudinal swing is imparted to the second shoe and through the-connections between the said shoe, and the upper shoe rockable and longitudinal reciprocation is imparted to the said upper shoe, to thereby provide for a positive separation of the seed from the chaff.

In the practical operation of my improved machine, the grain is discharged from the upper shoe onto the screen of the middle or second shoe over which the larger grains pass into a trough 27 that extends transversely of the machine and empties into a measure 28. The smaller grains pass through the second shoe screen into a receiver 29 pendent from the delivery end of the said second screen which in turn delivers the said smaller grain onto a chute 3O that'directs the said smaller grain onto the upper one 31, of a pair of screens carried by the lowermost or bottom shoe 32.

3st designates a regulating valve or gate that is located within the receiver 29 and is so mounted that it may be readily turned by a thumb screw 33 (see Fig. 1) so it can be set to regulate the flow of the smaller grains onto the chute 30 that leads the grain into the upper screen 31 of the bottom shoe 32, as is clearly shown in Fig. 2, of the drawing. The gate or valve 34 also acts as a blast retarder to prevent blowing out the smaller seed with the chaff separated there from as the said seed or grain passes from the second to the third or bottom shoe.

The bottom shoe carries an upper screen 31 and a lower screen 35 and the meshes of the said screen are such that coarser seed is deflected on the discharge end of the screen 31 to tail off to one side of the machine. The grain that separates through the upper screen drops onto the smaller or last screen, where it is again separated, the larger tailing off at the other side of the machine which the finer grain passes down onto the closed bottom 36 and slides out through a discharge 37 into a suitable receptacle.

The lowermost shoe 32 is pivotally hung on front and rear sets of hangers 37--38, the upper ends of which are pivotally hung on the horizontal brace bars 4- of the main frame.

39 designates a vibrator arm that is pivotally connected at its lower end to a bracket 4:0 on one side of the lower shoe frame and at its upper end is connected to the wrist pin on the fan shaft gear before referred to. Bracket 10 has a plurality of apertures 11 for adjustably connecting the vibrator arm to accommodate the shift of the upper end connected to the wrist pin 21 on the drive gear 23.

The fan casing 42 includes a forwardly extended blast chamber -13 in which is located a blast valve 442 adjusted by a set screw d6 that projects to one side of the frame (see Fig. 1). The opposite side members of the chute chamber 13 have diagonally extended notch-like slots 4:5 in their outer ends through which pass the headed ends 16 of clamp bolts 47 controlled from the outside of the machine by winged nuts 48, as is clearly shown in Fig. 1.

By reason of. mounting the discharging end of the blast casing, the said front end may be readily raised or lowered with respect to the chute 30 and its regulating valve 34 to thereby the more perfectly control the force of the blast from the fan directed against the droppings as they pass from the chute 30 onto the top screen of the lowermost shoe.

To provide for increasing or diminishing the force of the fan 50 the bearings for the fan shaft are made longitudinally adjustable (see Fig. 5) it being understood that by moving the shaft farther toward one end of the fan drum or casing the more effective becomes the action of the blades as they moye in closer proximity to the wall of the casing.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine of the character stated, the combination with the supporting frame, the hopper, the upper chaff shoe and a bottom screening shoe; an intermediate screening shoe, a receiver into which the larger grains and chaff from the intermediate shoe pass and which discharges laterally of the machine, a blast fan located between the intermediate and the lower shoe, a casing for the fan having a forwardly extended air chamber, a spout pendent from the end of the intermediate shoe, a chute that leads the droppings from the spout on to the lower shoe and means for raising and lowering the discharging end of the blast chamber relatively to the discharge spout from the intermediate shoe.

2. In a machine of the character stated, the combination with the supporting frame, the hopper, the upper chaff shoe and a bottom screening shoe; an intermediate screen: ing shoe, a receiver into which the larger grains and chafi' from the intermediate shoe pass and which discharge laterally of the machine, a blast fan located between the in termediate and the lower shoe, a casing for the fan having a forwardly extended air chamber the spout pendent from the endof the intermediate shoe, a chute that leads the droppings from the spout on to the lower shoe and means for raising and lowering the discharging end of the blast chamber, relative to the discharge spout from the intermediate shoe, a valve located in the said spout and a wind valve located in the charging end of the air chamber of the fan casing.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination with the main framing, the upper screening shoes, and a lower screening shoe, the blast fan, a casing therefor, bearings for the blast fanlongitudinally adjustable on the main frame, the ends of the blast fan having driven gears each provided with a wrist pin rockable lever arms connecting the said wrist pins with the upper screening shoes the said lever arms being slotted for receiving the wrist pins the lower screening shoe being pivotally supported on hangers pivot-ally hung from the main frame and lever connections joining the wrist pins on the fan shaft and pivotally connected with the sides of the lower screen, all being arranged substantially as shown and described.

JAMES C. BENSON. Witnesses:

A. BRYAN, JAS. G. BULL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

